The court recognized France's involvement in the Holocaust

The French administrative court recognized the responsibility of the French government for the deportation of Jews to the German concentration camps during the Second World War, the Air Force reports. Thus, for the first time, the participation of the French state in the Holocaust was officially recognized.

In the period from 1942 to 1944, 76 thousand Jews were taken to German concentration camps. The court considered that deportations were carried out with the assistance of the Vichy government, in connection with which the responsibility lies in the French state.

The Vichy regime was created in 1940 after the occupation of Paris by German troops. Officially, the regime adhered to neutrality, but for a long time it was argued that some of its leaders openly went to cooperate with Nazi Germany.

The topic of the government’s involvement in the mass deportations of Jews for a long time remained forbidden in France. Responsibility was assigned to Nazi Germany or the Vichy government as a collaborationist regime. Only in 1995, President Jacques Shirak recognized involvement in the deportations of the French state. However, legislative involvement of France in the Holocaust was assigned only now.

Since 1945, the French government pays compensation to the victims during the years of German occupation.